Choosing a puzzle! Which one is the first to break the defense line between Thunder and Wolves?

Alexander's foul actions in the game became the biggest focus of the first match of the Western Conference Finals, but judging from the content of the game, the referee was only a tiny part. In addition, the two teams actually have a lot of offensive and defensive exchanges, which is a part that is worthy of attention.

The Timberwolves did not score any fast break points in this game. They only made 12 shots in the penalty area and scored 20 points. The team made 17 mistakes, with only 92.6 points per 100 rounds. The team's main player Edwards gave 3 assists and 4 mistakes in the whole game. The second leader Randle only had 1 assist, but had 5 mistakes.

From the perspective of the two team leaders, it is obvious that the Timberwolves have encountered some more serious problems than the referee's penalty.

Judging from the content of the game, the Timberwolves was quite active in this game to let Edwards perform misaligned singles through pick-and-roll, but the Thunder's biggest advantage is that it is difficult for the five players on the field to find the target of the shortcomings. The best candidate is Isaiah Joe, a relatively thin shooter. The Timberwolves, who noticed this, are also constantly trying to switch Isaiah Joe to the matchup against Edwards.

And the Thunder naturally made a good move. Facing the Timberwolves' pick-and-roll screening, Isaiah Joe took the lead and delayed it in advance, so that the original defender could return to Edwards.

Almost all game time, the Thunder did not take the Timberwolves' misplaced attack mode, and did not easily replace Edwards. They constantly used delays, squeezed through screens and suddenly attacked, and assisted side defense and double-teams, constantly leaving the defender with the main attacker, and piled up people on the strong side to prevent Edwards from breaking through into the paint area, blocking his breakthrough route.

Timberwolves once chose Edwards as a cover, but as soon as he got the ball, the Thunder quickly executed double-teaming, continued to delay time for the blocked Wallace, Caruso and others, testing Edwards' offensive decision-making ability, and forcing him to post the ball to other teammates in advance.

Edwards returned to the top singles mode in the final quarter, but when the defender changed from Dort to Caruso, who squeezed through the screening ability, or Jewy who could interfere with a long arm, Edwards had almost no match-up to be relaxed. In the end, he only handed in an embarrassing report card with 5 of 13 shots and four turnovers. In addition to Edwards, Randall, who was in a hot state in the first two rounds, continued to feel the same in the first half of this game, and kept firing on the outside to support the Timberwolves' scoring output, but the Thunder also performed quite well against his defense. At the beginning of the second half, the Thunder basically won't give Randall the shooting space, using Kenway and Hartten to fight against outstanding players in the lower set, or Jewe, who is not inferior to physical strength and physical strength, to fight Randall's low-post attack.

When Randall focused on how to clear the space with his body and find a way to attack the basket, the Thunder ambushed agent would quickly step forward and double-team the steal, forcing Randall to pass the ball, forcing him to hand over the offensive decision to other teammates, greatly limiting his offensive influence in the second half. If Edwards' chance to break through this game was encircled, then Randall lost the operating space for a low-post offense.

It is obvious from the data comparison. Randall scored 20 points with 8 shots in the first half and 8 points with 5 shots in the second half.

Of course, the Timberwolves made 51 three-pointers, but only 15 shots were made, which caused the Thunder to not have to over-expand the defense in the interior and had enough time to return to the defense to protect the inside penalty area. When Randall and Edwards' offensive engines were restricted, the outside shooters could not pull the Thunder's defense line. The inside line Naz Reed, who had the advantage in the first two rounds, made 0 of 7 shots outside the three-point line in this game, it was difficult for Wolves' offense to achieve an advantageous effect.

According to post-match statistics, the five starting players in the Timberwolves have only 27 breakthrough rounds in total, while on the Thunder side, Alexander alone has 28 breakthrough rounds. This is a huge gap and to some extent it is also a key factor affecting the victory or defeat of the game.

However, this is just the first game in the series.

The first game cannot represent the entire series. The Timberwolves, who have the advantage of body shape, will definitely try to speed up the pace in the future and rely on the defense basic set to play a counterattack fast attack, which is their biggest advantage. And if Edwards can steadily show his progress in offensive decision-making in the first two rounds, he can still use his ability to attract double-teams and transmit the value of his teammates in series.

Another point is that there will be no huge gap in the offensive feel of the role players of both sides. When the Timberwolves character players can make three-pointers from the outside, will the Thunder still be able to stick to their pick-and-roll, consolidate the inside, and short the bottom corner shooter's strategy, which is also a major highlight of subsequent games.

Combined with the starting five-man lineup of the Thunder, Alexander + Homgren + Jewish + Dort + Hartten's team has not had an excellent offensive and defensive effect throughout the season. He can barely rely on the penalty area to suppress the opponent's offense, but he has never been able to produce enough matching content in his own offense.

The five-man lineup only handed in +3 net wins per 100 rounds in the 264 minutes of playing in the cumulative 264 minutes, and the outside shooting percentage was only 30.3%. For reference, the Thunder Double Tower matched the other three players with 419 minutes, and the net wins per 100 rounds is +6.7; and if it is a single tower lineup of Homgren or Harten, it is a single tower lineup of +16 net wins per 100 rounds.

Facing against the Western Conference Finals, the Timberwolves' forward group is stronger and more flexible than the Nuggets and has more offensive shooting threats, but they do not have an inside monster like Jokic at the MVP level. Daignot has a greater chance of gradually giving up the double towers and activate a single tower or five-small lineup, so that the offensive end can get more breathing time..

If the Thunder faces the problem of choosing between double towers and single towers in this round of the series, then the Timberwolves' problem is thinking whether Gobert should play on the court. The Thunder do not have a penalty area vacuum like the Lakers and the Warriors. Gobert's offensive role is limited to pick-and-roll screens and inside rebounds.

If you want to set up a small ball lineup to fight for attack, you can easily fall into the offensive and defensive rhythm that the Thunder are good at. Without Gobert, only Reed and Randall are in the penalty area. The threat of Alexander and Homgren to attack the basket will naturally increase greatly, which is also a major issue that needs to be chosen.

As the team led by two new generation defenders, I am not the one who pays most attention to this round of series dialogue, Edwards and Alexander. Compared with these two main players, I personally believe that the ultimate impact on the direction of the series is probably the inside. To be more detailed, it is mainly about the two new era interiors, Homegren and Naz Reed.

When facing the Nuggets, Homegren played a competent three-in-command performance, but when the outside line was in a quagmire, his shooting speed was too slow and he was easily affected by playoff-level defensive interference. If he still couldn't seize the three-point opportunity in this round of the series, then the offensive space problem of the starting lineup would be obvious.

The role of the defensive frame is needless to say. The top figure and mobility awareness can directly cover the no-fly zone under the Thunder basket, but rebound protection under thin body size is also a big problem. In addition to receiving and shooting, the offensive end is also an important part of the ball. When Gobert is not on the court, his role is mostly without the ball, and he uses his speed advantage to be responsible for receiving and sliding after receiving or rolling in the near box, creating a simple scoring opportunity.

, and Naz Reed, the opponent's inside, is the third ball-holding point second only to Edwards and Randle's autonomous offensive threat, and the tactical value of the connection period is not even inferior to the top two.

In the subsequent games, coach Finch should still ask him to arrange more opportunities for the outside line to go out, or to break through the basket after receiving the first shot. The excellent scoring method is a key lively water for revitalizing the Timberwolves' offense. However, the ball-holding offense in the first game of the series was slightly frustrated, which led to the freezing of the shooting. It depends on how he adjusts and deals with the subsequent games.